Exploring the research on managers’ safety commitment through the prism of leadership. Part 2: A systematic literature review

Abstract

The topic of managers' commitment to safety is increasingly gaining the attention of scholars over the past two decades. Bibliometric analysis (Part 1) explored the managers' commitment to safety through the prism of leadership and outlined how the research on this topic developed over time. We identified the knowledge base and the intellectual structure of the research. Based on the research front and the most important terms, we proposed possible future directions in which this field might develop. Although bibliometric analysis provides a holistic and objective overview of the state of research on this topic, an in-depth insight into the research on managers' safety commitment in relation to leadership is needed. To obtain an in-depth understanding of the research topic, we conducted a systematic review of the literature presented in this paper (Part 2). The content analysis of the publications enabled us to closely examine the evolution of this research topic over the past two decades. Specifically, we explored the theoretical foundations of publications, clarified how the concept was studied in the literature, which methods were used to address the concept, identified antecedents and outcomes of managers' commitment to safety, and proposed a research agenda that would help the scholars to develop this research topic further. The results of the review shed light on the shift in the focus of publications and highlight that managers' commitment is starting to be studied as an independent concept and explored separately from the concepts of safety climate and culture. This indicates a new direction in the research where managers' commitment and leadership are at the fore. The findings of the systematic review of the literature (Part 2) complement the bibliometric analysis (Part 1) and provide a more in-depth picture of the research on managers’ commitment to safety and leadership.